Kandla Port handled 45.9-mn tonnes cargo during 2005-06

Mumbai: Kandla Port has handled its highest cargo throughput of 45.9 million tonnes in 2005-06, up from the 41.55 mt it handled in the previous fiscal.

Cargo-wise, the traffic increased by 13 per cent in the dry cargo segment to touch 16 mt and by five per cent in the liquid cargo segment. At its offshore oil terminal at Vadinar, the total crude oil traffic handled during the fiscal was 20.49 mt compared to 18.77 mt in the previous fiscal, registering a 9 per cent growth. With regard to container traffic, the port handled 1.48 lakh TEUs. Mr A. Janardhana Rao, Chairman of the port, said Government approval for developing a container terminal with a total quay length of 545 m was received a few days ago.

The port handled 2,124 ships during the year, and the cost of handling cargo has been brought down to Rs 38.09 per tonne, one of the lowest in the country, he said .

Further, during the year, the average pre-berthing detention was about 0.82 days and the average turn-round time was about 3.04 days.